I’m a longtime iPhone person, and I’ve been dying to get my arms on Apple’s latest {hardware} innovation: the Digicam Management button. After over a month with the iPhone 16 Plus, I can safely say I used to be unsuitable to suppose it might be a big improve.
The Digicam Management button is thrilling, sure. It helps me take pictures sooner, however I barely use it, and it’s not as a result of I forgot it’s there. It’s the alternative, really. I’ve come to resent not having the ability to actually use it.
All of it has to do with the way in which I maintain the iPhone 16 Plus and its general measurement. I’m all the time holding the iPhone in my left hand, and most of my pictures are in portrait mode. The Digicam Management button is on the cellphone’s proper aspect. It’s uncomfortable to invoke the digicam with a single hand. And neglect about attempting to snap any pics along with your ring or pinkie finger.
The protecting case I selected for the iPhone doesn’t assist both. It encompasses a cutout whose edges minimize into my fingers to the purpose the place I dread urgent the Digicam Management button.
Add the truth that Apple Intelligence isn’t out there within the EU, and the iPhone 16’s distinctive Visible Intelligence characteristic isn’t out there wherever, and I’ve little motive to press the button I used to be so enthusiastic about some two months in the past.
However a brand-new discovery makes me hopeful that Apple will ship a giant button change to future iPhones. In flip, this might repair my Digicam Management issues.
A latest rumor mentioned that Apple may mix the Motion button and Quantity keys right into a single button as quickly as subsequent yr. The iPhone 17 can be the primary iPhone to characteristic such button tech, assuming the rumor is correct. The declare is way from verified, and different sources haven’t talked about this purported design change.
However this isn’t the primary time we have now heard of Apple plans to alter the iPhone button design. In recent times, we have now seen rumors about Apple designing iPhones with a unified quantity button. Stories additionally claimed that Apple wished to switch bodily buttons with haptic suggestions buttons for the iPhone 15 sequence.
None of that occurred. As a substitute, we acquired the Digicam Management button, which doesn’t exchange the Quantity keys. It’s a bodily button that additionally options capacitive parts and affords haptic suggestions.
It seems Apple has achieved in depth analysis and testing for brand new button designs. The clip you’ll see under from YouTuber Apple Demo options an iPhone with Quantity and Energy buttons unseen wherever else.
The cellphone is a mixture of iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 components. It’s not a purposeful machine, and it doesn’t characteristic an Apple emblem. As a substitute, it has a “Vesica Piscis” emblem on the bag that Apple might need used to hide the prototype’s identification.
The handset has a unified Quantity button underneath the Mute change and a Energy button on the opposite aspect. Each of them are haptic suggestions buttons quite than bodily ones.
How does this innovation profit the Digicam Management button? Name it wishful pondering, however I hope Apple unifies the Quantity buttons quickly. I’d additionally like it if the ensuing button was as massive because the Digicam Management button and labored identically.
The ultimate piece of the puzzle would come from iOS. Apple would let customers like me select which of the 2 buttons handles Digicam Management and which will get Quantity management duties.
If that had been to occur, I’d transfer the Digicam Management performance to the left aspect, the place the Quantity buttons at the moment sit. That method, I’d be capable of use my thumb to start out the digicam and take photos. The Quantity management buttons would sit on the proper, and I’d not often use them. You may management the amount from the Management Heart. I’m hoping to make use of Apple Intelligence sooner or later to handle iPhone settings by voice.
In such a state of affairs, the Motion button would stay separate, able to act as a shortcut to different iPhone options.
Once more, it’s wishful pondering. Nevertheless, the prototype within the following video reveals that Apple may be very severe about altering the design and performance of the iPhone buttons. No matter went unsuitable throughout testing is perhaps corrected for future generations. And I can’t be the one left-handed iPhone 16 person fighting the Digicam Management button.
